Image Comics 2021
Written by Joe Henderson
Illustrated by Lee Garbett
Coloured by Antonio Fabela
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Zadie Lu lived in her amazing brother’s shadow all her life. Now, he’s trapped in her shadow—literally—and he can’t take it anymore. It’s brother versus sister in an epic battle as Zadie fights to save her family!
When we left last issue Ms. Owens, Angela, had taken Ricky’s body under false pretenses and then at the dinner table the whole sordid truth came out and off they went to get Ricky back. One of the things that I really like about this is that we’ve been following the story in a kind of real time way instead of jumping around to get to where the characters need to be. Joe’s been able to really blend the story into this crazy thrill ride strewn with some sensational story driven elements. There is action, intrigue and all the things that comes with family and an emotional teenage girl so in some aspects it’s like a timebomb waiting to go off. I am really rather impressed with the skill and talent we see Joe demonstrating with his writing, how he’s able to convey feelings and emotions through words is sensational.
I’m really loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is impeccably rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to portray them as people we know and can relate to. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we get to see so much growth and development happen.
I appreciate the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve, strengthen and emerge. The layers are the avenues we’ve seen open up and those that newly opening which contain the characterisation, the plot twists and more. Whether they work with the main arc or simply swirl around it they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is perfectly achieved.
I am really enjoying the way that we see the interiors here. The linework that we see is utterly fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work we see is phenomenal. The way we see the shadows as they create the backgrounds and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work we see is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is sensational. The way that the blacks with all the shades and hues, including blues is simply magnificent to see on these pages.
This is the first arc in this series and I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing so much of these characters and the lives that they live. This a rich and fantastic premise that’s full of unlimited potential and this is only the beginning. With some absolutely incredible writing and characterisation wrapped up in these phenomenal interiors it’s time to see what Shadecraft is and what it’s about.